7 Unmissable Things To Do In Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city that prides itself on being different as shown by the giant ‘Keep Portland Weird’ on the side of a building downtown. They live up to this moniker in the many things to do in Portland that are refreshingly unique.

Voodoo Doughnuts are synonymous with what makes Portland great for their colourful yet whacky doughnut designs. The doughnuts here are different and amazingly tasty and you’ll often have to wait in line to be able to place your order.

Be weird and get a raspberry-filling voodoo doll doughnut at Voodoo Doughnuts!

If you’re wondering why a bookstore is among the places you need to check out, just know that Powell’s is one of Portland’s most important landmarks. It is the world’s largest indie bookstore with four different locations throughout Portland.

Visit the main Powell’s right by Pioneer Courthouse Square and just get lost in a maze of books here.

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is Portland’s biggest and best museums. OMSI often brings in different exhibits that teach valuable lessons to guests in fields ranging from history to science.

Come check out this popular museum in Portland and register for the After Dark Experience. An event specifically for adults that includes alcohol!

Portland’s nickname is the City of Roses and fittingly, at the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park, you can see a lifetime’s worth of roses. What was first a sanctuary for European roses has blossomed (pun intended!) into one of the largest public rose gardens in America.

Come to Tom McCall Waterfront Park to take a nice leisurely stroll along the pathways that run parallel with the Willamette River. This park often puts on different events throughout the year and Saturday is the day for the market to open.

Come here on a Saturday morning and go for a walk down this park and stop by the market for some food, shopping, and live music.

Portland has an incredibly large number of food trucks in and around the city. There are clusters of food trucks that take up an entire square block although there are plans to remove this in favour of building a new hotel.

In any event, you would be hard pressed not to run into a quirky food truck that offers some of the tastiest food Portland has to offer.

Portland is also known for their booming beer and microbrewery industry. A great way to sample some of the local brews is by hopping on a BrewCycle. These BrewCycle’s invite anywhere from 6-12 guests to peddle a giant bicycle together throughout Portland as you hop from one Portland bar to the next.

This is the perfect way to ingratiate yourselves to Portland brewing and a fun way to spend an afternoon!

James Wan

Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, James has always had an inquisitive nature and traveling is now his biggest passion. His biggest thrills are visiting places he's never been to and exploring different cultures. James counts Athens, Tokyo, and Rome as the top three places he's visited.